WASHINGTON, Dec 7: Gearing up for a post 2014 Afghanistan, US said Pakistan has quite an important role to play in the future of regional stability.
“Look it’s a difficult relationship, we co-operate on counter-terrorism issues that is essential to US national security interest. We had our ups and downs. We certainly acknowledge that,” Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communication for the US President, told the White House Foreign Press Group yesterday.
“I think right now we have the potential to work together both to resolve some of the terrorism issues, but as we look to 2014 Afghanistan; we want to make sure Pakistan is part of the solution in terms of regional stability.
So their (Pakistan’s) support for an Afghan-led reconciliation is critically important and we want to continue to support that,” Rhodes asserted.
“In the United States, our goal here is to defeat al Qaeda. As we continue to degrade al Qaeda, it allows for us to have a discussion about how we are prostrate in the region, in a way that is durable and sustainable that respects the sovereignty and interest of all the countries in the region – Afghanistan and Pakistan included,” he said in response to a question.
“So we are in a better footing, in some respect with US Pakistan relationship that we were a year ago.
We still have a lot of differences to work through, but there is a potential for them to part of the solution here as we look at the stability of the region as the Afghan war winds down,” Rhodes said. (PTI)
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